A senior civil servant was suspended yesterday amid allegations of gross misconduct as defence chiefs investigate his relationship with his pretty blonde chief of staff.

Andrew Manley, a £200,000-a-year executive in the Ministry of Defence, is to be questioned over whether his relationship with Laura Clare was ‘inappropriate’ and about expenses claims picked up by taxpayers for nights he spent at a luxury hotel.

The 57-year-old married, father-of-two – one of the ministry’s highest paid officials – is chief executive of the three-year-old Defence Infrastructure Organisation. It is responsible for the management and maintenance of £23billion of MoD land and property.

Relationship: Andrew Manley (left) will be questioned over his relationship with Laura Clare (right)

Miss Clare, 32, is likely to be questioned as part of the inquiry but is not under investigation and has not been suspended.

Described as a high-flier, she has worked for Mr Manley since 2011 and was recently promoted to be his chief of staff.

Share this article

It is understood that internal emails sent by Mr Manley will form part of the investigation being carried out by the MoD.

Last
month it emerged that Mr Manley had claimed a £5,542 bill for 47 nights
at the New Hall Hotel and Spa in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, as
part of an expenses claim of £13,743.

The
800-year-old four-star spa and country house hotel, which can cost £155
a night, is less than two miles from DIO headquarters, which the MoD
said he visited from his London office.

His
claim was part of £180million spent by the MoD on hotels and car hire
for top civil servants and officers at a time when the Armed Forces are
facing massive cuts. It even included a £3,000 Sky Sports subscription.

There
was disbelief from taxpayer groups as reports revealed that officials
spent £110million on hotels between 2009 and 2013 – a bill which went up
by £3million in three years – and a further £69million on cars.

A
Ministry of Defence spokesman said yesterday: ‘We can confirm that a
senior civil servant has been suspended on full pay. It would be
inappropriate to comment further pending the outcome of an
investigation.’

An interim
appointment will be made to ensure that the work of the DIO is
unaffected. Last night there was no reply at Mr Manley’s £1.5million
detached five-bedroom home in Chobham, Surrey, where he lives with his
wife Pauline, 56, daughter Olivia, 22, and son, Rory, 21. Three cars
stood on the drive.

A
graduate of the University of Wales and London Business School, Mr
Manley took a job at the MoD after spending 30 years with Shell, where
he was a vice president in Latin America and oversaw the oil giant’s
move onto a common IT system.

Luxury: Manley used taxpayers' money to stay at the £155-a-night New Hall Hotel and Spa in Sutton Coldfield

HOW THEY ENJOYED THE HIGH LIFE

Extraordinary details have been uncovered about the lavish perks and bonuses enjoyed by civil servants at the Ministry of Defence.

Senior mandarins have stayed in plush hotels, pocketed generous bonuses, enjoyed trans-Atlantic travel and been given official cars and drivers – all funded by the taxpayer.

They have also been wined and dined by defence companies and given tickets to major sporting events.

Last month it emerged that the MoD spent £180million on hotels and car hire for top civil servants and officers between 2009 and 2013 as it made billions of pounds in cuts, including axing warships, fighter jets tanks and 30,000 troops.

One of the high spenders was Bernard Gray, who is paid £220,000 a year to bring the MoD’s equipment budget under control.

He claimed more than £100,000 expenses in his first year in the job. Between January and October 2011 Mr Gray, who lives in Newbury, Berkshire, racked up a £23,000 bill for 106 overnight stays at hotels in London and Bristol. He also charged £65,531 for using an official car and driver, and £17,929 for air and rail travel.

He joined the MoD as commercial director
in charge of procurement before being promoted to head the newly-formed
DIO.

Its job is to develop,
maintain and service the MoD’s training ranges, barracks, bases, depots
and aircraft hangars. Mr Manley was in charge of spending £3.3billion a
year on work that includes feeding nearly a quarter of a million staff,
acting as the landlord for 50,000 homes, and looking after 600,000
acres of land.

Miss Clare
worked for Unilever, the multinational consumer goods company, before
joining the MoD in 2004 on the department’s commercial business graduate
scheme.

Said to be ‘highly
regarded’ in the department, she held commercial posts in equipment and
was promoted to become private secretary to the director general
commercial.

Miss Clare joined the DIO in 2011 as private secretary to Mr Manley.

She
was then rapidly promoted to become his chief of staff – effectively
acting as a gatekeeper, liaising between the chief executive and other
staff – on a salary of up to £59,535 a year. Miss Clare enjoys horse
riding, playing tennis and walking.

Last night there was no reply at her home in a modern development in Putney, South-West London.